Baneblade Kit

[Brakkart]

So I bought myself an early Xmas pressie in the form of the Baneblade kit for my Imperial Fists army as I've been wanting a super heavy for ages and as nice as a Knight would be (and I do plan to get one at some point) I'm way too much of a treadhead to not go for a ruddy great tank.

So I'm wondering what is the best version of this kit to put together for my army really. Ideally I want to have the top turret as that is part of what makes a tank a tank to me (and most modern tanks having that feature helps prove the point).

I don't have the Apocalypse or Escalation rulebooks as yet and I don't play in tournaments. My group of mates I play with are pretty liberal about homemade stuff also which only adds to my general sense of not knowing what to do with this thing. I have only ever played against Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Space Wolves and Eldar armies, but very likely to add Orks and Necrons to that list in the near future. I was thinking of something like this:

11800

But not sure if this kit has all the bits to make that configuration. Thought I'd ask for some advice as I'm not terribly handy with the magnets so I wanna stick this together ideally with a fun combo of weapons that fits the Fists siege oriented mentality.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Surely the mighty Sons of Dorn would want a dirty big cannon? :p

[CoffeeGrunt]

It depends on the role you want it to fill. The Stormlord is great for carrying a bunch of dudes to let them fire out of the top, as well as packing a great gun for chewing up Infantry. The standard Baneblade has a nicely, absurdly-sized Blast weapon with Lascannon stats, the Hellhammer packs a longer-ranged Demolisher Cannon with AP1 and Ignores Cover, and the Shadowsword has the Volcano Cannon, which has suffered a bit after the nerf to D weapons.

[Grimnar42]

You might want to check out "Fellblades of Renown: The Ancient Super Heavies of the Space Marines" thread. Machinator has built some incredible stuff and he sells the bits you need on ebay.
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?10652-Fellblades-of-Renown-The-Ancient-Super-Heavies-of-the-Space-Marines/page2

On page 8 are pics of his Imperial Fists Fellblade

[Brakkart]

Surely the mighty Sons of Dorn would want a dirty big cannon? :p

That's the problem, the kit comes with more dirty great big guns than I know what to do with. Choosing just one is painful!


You might want to check out "Fellblades of Renown: The Ancient Super Heavies of the Space Marines" thread. Machinator has built some incredible stuff and he sells the bits you need on ebay.
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?10652-Fellblades-of-Renown-The-Ancient-Super-Heavies-of-the-Space-Marines/page2

On page 8 are pics of his Imperial Fists Fellblade

Yeah I follow that thread. Sadly though he doesn't sell all the bits needed to make that Fellblade, but FW plan to make a Stormhammer tank anyway as part of their HH line. I am tempted by some of the other bits he makes though and the datasheets for his line of Fellblades are excellnt.

[windchild]

Surely the mighty Sons of Dorn would want a dirty big siege cannon? :p

Fixed that for you.


The perfect tank for the Sons of Dorn is the Shadowsword, with its D weapon that can level fortifications in a single shot.

[Tyrendian]

looking at your usual opponents, both a Baneblade and a Hellhammer should do you just fine - one has a larger blast with longer range, while the other ignores cover, which is ace against Eldar especially but just as deadly to blobs of Guard hiding in ruins or something

[DWest]

The current Baneblade kit has all the parts for any of the Baneblade or Shadowsword variants. Regardless of what form you go for, the main hull is the same at all times. The sponsons are currently extra points to fit, but they give you 2 Lascannons and 2 T-L Heavy Bolters, so they're not a bad choice. You can fit up to two sets of sponsons, but you'll need to purchase the Baneblade Accessory Sprue from GW to get the other set.

The final weapon configurations are split into 3 categories; the Battle Tank (Baneblade, Hellhammer); Assault Tank (Banehammer, Doomhammer, Stormlord); or Artillery Tank (Shadowsword, Banesword, Stormsword).
-All Battle Tanks have the turret with a main gun and autocannon, and a front plate with a Demolisher Cannon and a Heavy Bolter turret. The Baneblade has a 7" blast Battle Cannon, and the Hellhammer has a 7" blast AP1 Ignores Cover nova gun.
-All Assault Tanks use the casemate assembly set forward, with a troop deck in the back, and a Heavy Bolter fixed mount on the front. The Banehammer has a 7" blast tremor cannon, the Doomhammer has a 5" blast S10 AP1 gun, and the Stormlord has the Vulcan Mega-Bolter, which fires 15 shots at a time, and has a special rule where it can be fired twice instead of moving.
-All Artillery Tanks use the casemate set on the back, and a Heavy Bolter fixed on the front. The Shadowsword has a 5" blast D weapon, the Banesword has a 10" blast Earthshaker, and the Stormsword has a 10" blast AP1 Ignores Cover weapon.

The pieces of the Baneblade kit are very interchangeable with simple magnets, or even just dry-fitted (I got mine just before they put the two kits together, but I can flip between any Assault or Artillery Tank except the Stormlord just by moving parts around. Magnets or a piece of sprue is needed to keep the deckplate from falling in, but the casemate and guns stick in just fine with no support). The picture from the first post uses a Baneblade turret with the Stormlord's Megabolter fitted in place of the gun, and more Heavy Bolters where the Lascannons would go. The turret weapon should be a straightforward replacement using what's in the box.

[Brakkart]

Awesome thanks for that info DWest. Looking at all of that and what Ty said above I think I'll assemble it as a regular Baneblade and just magnetise the main gun to be able to switch between Baneblade, Hellhammer and the version in my OP which whoever made it termed it a Fireblade. Think I'll keep the Lascannons on the sponsons though as while lots of dakka is nice, a little more anti-tank ability is preferable.